Simone Brunozzi

This photo gallery by my friend Luca Sartoni, Portraits at SXSW, is simply spectacular.

p.s. This is my favourite one.

Do you want to relax? Watch this nice slideshow :)

Click below for the Flickr set.

It’s Sunday, I’m in Singapore, my girlfriend is still in the US, therefore I have plenty of time to study Portuguese, read books about food, and write on the blog.
The last few days have been interesting for me.
Last Tuesday, at the Founder Institute in San Francisco, my session was very well received… And I liked the interaction with the students and the Mentors. Well done, Adeo! These are the (almost self-explanatory) slides that I used for my presentation: Startup Research. If you like them, well, like them on Facebook too, or on Twitter :)

My Evil Plan for 2011, being part of The Long Way Up, is still just a dream, as I cannot get in touch with any of the organizers.

By the way, a lot of people liked my “review” of Evil Plans, the book by Hugh McLeod. Take a look at it, and drop a comment and tell me what you think.

And, yeah, I miss the US today. Not just Seattle and the Washington State (and Port Townsend’s pizza), but also San Francisco and the “vibe” that you breath there.
Let me share with you a couple of pictures from San Fran. Hope you like them :)

(The FULL SET of Pictures is on Flickr. Hope you like it.)

Last, but not least, I really wish that Japan will soon recover from this recent disaster (Earthquake + Tsunami). I don’t exactly believe in God, but my prayers are for these people there.

Have a great weekend.

That’s one way to explain Italy to non italians, at least from a working perspective.

Let me start with this story here:
Treehouse hits the Deadpool; founder off to Google.

Treehouse was a Mobile Photo Sharing startup. Chrys Bader, the founder, says:
“We were indeed the first to really identify the market for mobile photo sharing.  It all started when we asked the question “What if you could see your friends’ camera rolls?” So many people take pictures on their iPhones that never see the light of day, so by being able to see your friends’ camera rolls, then you can see what your friends are up to.”

Unfortunately for Chrys, Treehouse didn’t pick up well, and therefore the founders decided to shut it down.
Now Chrys just started a new job at Google, working on some “exciting new project”. Congratulations, Chrys.

So, what this has to do with Italy?
Simple.
In Italy, Chrys Bader would be unemployed. For years, maybe. He would be a loser. A big loser.
And a big company in Italy would not hire him to run an exciting project. Not at all.

That’s one of the biggest differences between Italy and the US.
Of course, there are many others, this is just one of them.

This Sunday I rented a car and went around Seattle with Lisa.
We went to Snoqualmie Falls (East of Seattle), and then to Port Townsend, North East of Seattle. It was a fun ride.
We also enjoyed a great pizza at the Waterfront pizza. Here I am :)

(Lisa thinks I’m ugly in this photo; I don’t care if I look ugly, as long as you like me anyway).

Dearest readers,
you’ve surely read about my 2011 Evil Plan: be part of the Long Way Up expedition.
This is a call to action: if you want to help me, just go here and tell them why they should let me join :)

Few days ago I posted a long and detailed review of Hugh McLeod’s Evil Plans.
Some people commented on the blog, tens shared it on Facebook, a few others sent me a private email with their thoughts about it.
One of them said: well, nice review, but then… What’s your evil plan for 2011?
He knows that, even before they were nicely defined by Hugh, I always have had Evil Plans in my life.
And he was surprised that I listed many of them, without actually committing to any.

Ok, that’s it then. I have to pick one, and possibly make it public.
Give me ten seconds…
Here it comes.
My Evil Plan for 2011 is to participate in the Long Way Up adventure. (which is supposed to start somewhere in 2011… Hopefully in the Fall).

It’s almost impossible to make it happen. Let’s see pluses and minuses:
- I don’t know Ewan nor Charley.
- I don’t know when they will do it; if they’re already planning for it. It might already be too late.
+ I’m an expert biker and I’ve driven many types of bikes, but
- never did for such a long journey.
0 I’m a decent photographer, but I’m not a Pro.
+ I’m great at blogging and using the online social media to share this adventure online.
+ I love writing, and the few things I did in Italian language have been very well received.
+ I can afford to pay for the bike and everything else.
+ I did some charity work, very small things, some in Italy in the little town of Assisi (home of Saint Francis, the greatest of all Saints), some with Acumen Fund, some with a few other almost unknown organizations.
- I don’t see why they should accept me as part of the expedition. Yes, some good reasons are above, but… Seriously, who is this guy, Simone Brunozzi? We’ve never heard of him.

As I said, it’s almost impossible.
Dear reader, I need your help.
1) Share this blog post, if you like it, on Facebook and Twitter.
2) Let me know if you know someone that knows them. I need to get in touch with them and let them know that I’m interested. I’d like to know what they think about it.
3) Anything to say? A rant against this idea? Or just your own Evil Plan? Share it in the comments.
Thanks!

What happens if I fail? Well… I’ll cry. And then I’ll plan another Evil Plan for 2012. :)

Update: Charley Boorman is organizing a shorter version of The Long Way Down, from Cape Town to Victoria Falls (in Africa), at the end of August 2011. 16 days, 5000 kilometers, and 25 bikers. Too many. That’s not the type of adventure that I have in mind. Three, four people is the maximum, for me. It’s not cheap (more than 7,000 euros), but not even too expensive, considering all the organization and the 2-day training in Wales.
In any case, that’s not what I’m looking for. What a pity :)

Ok, let me have fun for a minute.
I’ve taken the picture below at Changi Airport, the main Airport in Singapore.
I thought it was funny to have these signs together.

I couldn’t resist to imagine this guy that:
- Has a huge meal at the Airport;
- Feels the urgency to visit a restroom for some “serious” output;
- However, his meal so unhealthy and so abundant, that he can’t “output” anything;
- Ok, he goes to the prayer room, and asks God to help him.
- God doesn’t listen: his last resort is the Clinic.
- If even the Clinic cannot help, there’s a train that goes directly to the Sky. Heaven or Hell, who can tell?

All in one picture. Funny :)

As you might know, I am a frequest “public speaker“, or presenter, for Amazon.com, and in the last 32 months or so I spoke/keynoted at more than 280 events in four continents (they will become five in late April, when I’ll be keynoting in Brazilia, my first visit to South America).

This also means that I’ve seen THOUSANDS of other people give talks and keynotes and such, in front of many diverse audiences.

People listening to these talks are usually BORED, to say the least. The reason is simple: most presenters don’t work hard enough to make their presentations interesting. Even better: they don’t make their presentations FUNNY.
This might sound strange to you, but even the most professional and serious speaker, in the most serious and professional environment, with the most professional and serious audience, should try to be funny, in a way that doesn’t clash with his/her message or goal.

I want to share with you some thoughts about “being funny”. Or, about humour, which I think it’s the “salt” of a great conference talk. And also the “salt” of much more.

First:
Take a look at what Wikipedia says about Humour.
In short, we cannot scientifically define how Humour works; in fact, there are many Theories of Humour.
However, there seems to be some specific methods of creating humour, or being funny: hyperbole, metaphor, farce, reframing, timing.
There is also a discipline, called Gelotology, which studies the effect of laughter in the human body.

If you were a native italian speaker, you could laugh to death at Gigi Proietti’s many gags, but if you try to reproduce them with friends, they would be terrible and boring. There is, in my opinion, something not yet clear about humour, or why some people are so good at making jokes, and others aren’t.

Second:
Save 20 minutes of your time, and watch this wonderful, inspiring, and… FUNNY, presentation by Sir Ken Robinson, at TED 2007.
Ken is funny, multiple times, in a surprisingly natural way.
I admire this person mostly for his ability to be funny; and of course, because the topic he’s covering is of uttermost importance: education.

He’s also great in mixing funny moments and one-liners, with very serious statements, keeping the audience always with him.
If I had the fortune to attend his talk in 2007, I would have thought that he invented time travel, because these 20 minutes would lapse in a second for me.
Look, for example at 3:45, when he tells the story of a little girl and how she “sees” God. That’s fantastic.
And then, much more serious talk, when he describes what he thinks about the Education system at 11:20.

Third:
In my experience, I can be funny at least 2-3 times during a 30 minutes talk, and that helps a lot in getting people’s attention, and appreciation.
I don’t exactly know how and why.
I usually avoid the usual one-liners for speakers, such as these ones, although a couple of them are really funny.

I also think that being entertaining and funny is a form of RESPECT for the audience. These people are sitting there, all day, in a conference hall, while they could be enjoying a walk outside… You have to give them something, besides your boring Powerpoints.
As Seth Godin says “A presentation is not an obligation. It’s a privilege.”

Last, but not least:
You might want to take a look at these posts, related to speaking and presenting in public, but with no specific reference to humour:
Presenting in public
Fredrik Härén: being a great speaker
Sir Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms

Can you suggest any resource to learn more about how humour works?
Can you share your own experience?

I really like Lynn’s Blog, A Sakura Story.
Lots of pictures, comments, thoughts, on how it is to live in Singapore, and visit nearby countries.
Very cool read.
I also like that she’s often involved with volunteer work, and that’s admirable.

During her stay in Nepal, for eight days Lisa and I took care of three lovely kittens (one of the many other volunteer things that Lynn does), which will soon be adopted by some lucky person in Singapore.
Here you can see them: Panza, Macchietta and Noia, while we try to cook them :)